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Monday 4th January 2021 - Gun G/SP-013 & The Cloud G/SP-015
I was at work in Leek for the start of the new term, even though we knew by now that students would not be on site due to the pandemic. I took the opportunity to get some exercise by walking up and down Gun with my handheld on the way, at this stage not realising that the rules were about to change, and this approach would no longer be possible 24 hours later.
After work that afternoon, I activated The Cloud G/SP-015 on my way home.
Monday 29th March 2021 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013
After The Cloud G/SP-015, I drove over to Gun, with still plenty of slack time in the bag ahead of a workday. After the slow-going on 40m earlier, this time I opted for 20m - although results were almost identical.
Three QSOs on 20m CW and the same number on 2m FM, and it was time to pack up and head to work - if I was to have time to collect a filled oatcake breakfast en route!
Tuesday 30th March 2021 - Shining Tor G/SP-004, Gun G/SP-013 & The Cloud G/SP-015
After Shining Tor G/SP-004, I drove across via Bottom of the Oven, Wildboarclough and Wincle. The walk up Gun was quick and easy with no bog to negotiate, and the summit was bathed in bright moonlight.
The first two contacts came very quickly and easily. The first was with a station in Grantham with fine signals both ways. There seemed to be some lift conditions at play. I then spent far too long persisting with getting more QSOs, even though there wasn't an activator point available anyway. I had plenty of time available though. Ultimately I gave up and made my way over to The Cloud G/SP-015.
Thursday 1st April 2021 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013
After The Cloud G/SP-015, I drove over to Gun and walked up to the trig with my handheld. I worked Rod M0RCC and Brian G4XQB as I often do, on the "Robin's Nest" early morning net frequency of 145.550MHz - but unusually, not Robin G4VXW himself! Bacon, sausage, cheese and mushroom double oatcakes were collected for breakfast on the remainder of the commute.
Saturday 10th April 2021 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013
After The Cloud G/SP-015, I was about to slope off home in a sulk for a nice hot cup of tea. But the precipitation abated, and the wallabies hopped over to say hello as I descended. My mood lifted,and I drove over to Gun for another try.
All the parking spots were taken, so I had to drive round the back way where fortunately there was a space for me beside the start of the path. I set up the SB5 on the summit, but failed to generate any interest in making a 2m SSTV contact. I went onto 2m FT8, working 4 QSOs including Belgium.
I then decided to be popular by activating on 2m SSB with a horizontal beam and not in a contest. That failed spectacularly and I got zero contacts. I hardly needed to try 2m CW to confirm the same success rate.
I went onto 2m FM but still with a horizontal beam as it was now snowing heavily and I didn’t want to get out of my bothy bag. Five stations were worked, culminating in Simon G7WKX who bemoaned missing the SSTV opportunity. No problem, I was happy to rig the tablet and interface up again for another go. We made the contact!
Saturday 17th April 2021 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 Jimmy M0HGY wrote the following account of our Saturday evening visit to Gun:
"Earlier this evening, me and my dad Tom M1EYP set off for our remaining local SOTA Gun G/SP-013. When we got to the parking spot 2 other cars were there, both of which were occupied (one of the occupied 2 cars was still there when we arrived back at the parking spot after our activation). With this, we did not expect to see anyone at all on the hill and this was indeed the case, so no social distancing needed to be observed except for not getting too close the cars at the parking spot.
My dad activated on the summit on 20m FT4 where he got 8 contacts, DX being PY Brazil, CU Azores, HI Dominican Republic and 7X Algeria. He then went onto 2m FM where he got 11 contacts, so his total number of contacts was 19. I started off the activation on 2m FM where I got 11 contacts and then went onto 20m FT4 where I got 4 contacts, DX being PY Brazil. My total number of contacts was 15. This was the first time ever that I have worked PY Brazil under one of my own callsigns. Usually we would take a flask of soup on SOTA activations. However we haven’t done this on our recent night time activations, but we did take a flask of tea which we enjoyed."
Monday 19th April 2021 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 After The Cloud G/SP-015, I still had time to activate Gun on the way to work - but only with a VHF handheld! Two stations worked from the summit before a swift retreat and drive into Leek. As usual, a filled oatcake breakfast was collected from "Take A Break" in Leek - and very much enjoyed.
Tuesday 20th April 2021 - Gun G/SP-013 & The Cloud G/SP-015 I went straight to Gun on the way to work, as I wanted to try a little HF - requiring extra time to set up and take down a groundplane antenna. Nothing spectacular - just six QSOs on FT4 mode, half of which were with Greek stations. I did The Cloud G/SP-015 later, on the way home from work.
Wednesday 21st April 2021 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 Back to the routine of activating both The Cloud G/SP-015 and Gun G/SP-013 on the way to work. Just one 2m FM QSO on The Cloud, followed by three on Gun.
Friday 23rd April 2021 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 And the same again on Friday - Cloud and Gun en route to work.
Saturday 24th April 2021 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 After the long 2m multimode activation on The Cloud, just a typical dash up Gun with a handheld. Nonetheless, a pleasing eight QSOs recorded.
Sunday 25th April 2021 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 Over to Gun, and as is so often the case, time was now against me and I just walked to the summit with my handheld. I wanted to get back in time for Dan Toft’s weekly online “Virtual Open Mic” show at 1.30pm BST, as Liam’s latest video and recording was scheduled to be on it. 2m FM: 7 QSOs 2 S2S: GW4HQB/P & MW0OVW/P on GW/MW-009 Back home, and watched the Facebook Live broadcast, which included this cover of a 1980 Manchester punk classic from my son’s band:
Monday 26th April 2021 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 Another working week, and another decision to do both summits with a handheld on the way to work.
Tuesday 27th April 2021 - Kinder Scout G/SP-001, The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 Having done The Cloud, I could hardly then return straight home without doing Gun! Across I went, but this time just took the handheld up with me. 2m FM: 1 QSO!
Wednesday 28th April 2021 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 My local pair of summits activated on the way to work in Leek. 2m handheld with rubber duck.
Thursday 29th April 2021 - Gun G/SP-013 & The Cloud G/SP-015 My local pair of summits activated on the way home from work in Leek. 2m handheld with rubber duck.
Friday 30th April 2021 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 My local pair of summits activated on the way to work in Leek. 2m handheld with rubber duck.
Saturday 1st May 2021 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 A drive out to Wincle microbrewery later on, resulted in an unplanned jaunt up Gun G/SP-013 for a second activation of the day. This was just using the handheld and rubber duck but still netted 4 QSOs including one S2S: G7HEM/P on G/WB-004.
Wednesday 5th May 2021 - Gun G/SP-013 & The Cloud G/SP-015 I was a bit late getting up on the Wednesday morning. Not that I had aspirations to get two summits in before work; The Cloud G/SP-015 was being "saved" for that evening's 2m FT8 activity contest! However, more time would have afforded HF operation. As it was, it had to be 2m handheld in-a-rush as usual!
Friday 7th May 2021 I wanted to try 15m from Gun G/SP-013 on my way to work in Leek in the morning. Imagine my frustration upon failing to find the antenna in my car! I (mistakenly) concluded it must be hidden away somewhere in the boot of Marianne’s car from the previous day. I deployed 17m instead, but was disappointed both with the lack of DX in the band activity window, and moreso with the absence of stations replying to my CQ calls on FT8 . Eventually I called a CQing Polish station and made a single contact. JA stations were just starting to appear on the screen as I began packing away. Listening around the band, for once CW may have been a better choice than FT8. So a couple of false starts there, but I still thought there was fun to be had on 15m with a groundplane vertical at the current time - when I find it - so watch this space!
Wednesday 12th May 2021 - Gun G/SP-013 & The Cloud G/SP-015 As many would be aware, I was make a habit of inserting a SOTA activation into my morning drive to work. I had been doing this for many years as a maths teacher, and even had more scope for it during those times as a touring musician (hopefully to return later in the year). It was nice to know that I was “doing my environmental bit” by combining my SOTA outings and work commutes into single journeys. Knowing that I am saving the planet AND minimising journeys as per our polite Government’s Covid advice is enough for me; I don’t need a green bonus point in the Database. However, what I would have liked is more QSOs and more DX. I'd tried out 17m a few days earlier. That netted me one FT8 contact, but I “backed the wrong horse” mode-wise as the CW portion of the band was very busy at that time. This time, I tried 15m. The CW segment was silent, but there was traffic on the FT8 frequency. My result was the same - one single contact - a G station at that (well M7 actually). I think I might have been over eager at wanting the excitement of the higher HF bands before 0700 UTC, and perhaps I needed to “tone it down” a little and revert to 30m. I would give 15m another go on the way home from work though that day though, from another summit, as I was working Brazil on it via a 40m dipole a couple of weekends earlier, so there was definitely some goodies to be had with a vertical + groundplane antenna (best for DX in my experience).
Thursday 13th May 2021 - Gun G/SP-013 & The Cloud G/SP-015 It was great to get long time SOTA chaser Don G0RQL on 20m FT4 on this early morning activation. After the recent disappointments of early morning 17m and 15m, 20m FT4 kept me very busy before work this time. A new sign on the gate at the start of the Gun G/SP-013 path reports that cattle will be grazing on there from next week. I hope it was going to be sheep…!
Friday 14th May 2021 - Gun G/SP-013 & The Cloud G/SP-015 Gun before work again, and like the previous day, I opted for a 20m FT4 activation. Not as many worked as yesterday, but still a fun short activation.
Saturday 15th May 2021 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 No sign of the cattle that were supposed to be grazing on Gun as from today. 2m FM: 1 QSO.
Sunday 16th May 2021 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 Just a quick handheld raid after the earlier activation.
Monday 17th May 2021 - Gun G/SP-013 & The Cloud G/SP-015 Two 6m FT8 SOTA activations today, one from Gun on the way to work in Leek, and another from The Cloud on the way home!
Tuesday 18th May 2021 - Gun G/SP-013 & The Cloud G/SP-015 Two 2m FM handheld SOTA activations today, one from Gun on the way to work in Leek, and another from The Cloud on the way home!
Wednesday 19th May 2021 - Gun G/SP-013 & The Cloud G/SP-015 A 20m FT4 activation on Gun before work.
Thursday 20th May 2021 - Gun G/SP-013 & The Cloud G/SP-015 I wasn't working on this day, so I could afford to take things somewhat more leisurely than usual in the morning. Gun and Cloud activated, on 6m FT8 and 2m FM respectively.
The choice of 6m for Gun came about because that was what antenna I found, to my surprise, in my antenna bag labelled "10m"!
Friday 21st May 2021 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 I didn't really have the enthusiasm for playing amateur radio, but did have the yearning to walk up two hills before work. Cloud and Gun both activated, extremely low effort style, with a handheld and low QSO numbers!
Sunday 23rd May 2021 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 Quick raid with the handheld.
Monday 24th May 2021 - Gun G/SP-013 & The Cloud G/SP-015 Gun on the way to work. 10m just about open, and three QSOs made on FT8.
Tuesday 25th May 2021 - Gun G/SP-013 & The Cloud G/SP-015 Swapped the order this morning, and cannot remember why! Both handheld activations.
Wednesday 26th May 2021 Just Gun activated today - a day off for The Cloud! Another handheld raid, and three QSOs logged, all by gatecrashing a regular early morning net.
Thursday 27th May 2021 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 Both summits before work again, and back to the conventional order! Both summits activated on 2m FM with the handheld.
Saturday 29th May 2021 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 Another handheld raid on the back of a Cloud activation. Just one QSO worked.
Monday 31st May 2021 - Gun G/SP-013 & The Cloud G/SP-015 I had a bit more time available with it being a Bank Holiday Monday and no work to get to, However, I ended up just doing low-effort handheld VHF activations anyway!
Tuesday 1st June 2021 - Gun G/SP-013, The Cloud G/SP-015 & Shining Tor G/SP-004 The main focus of the day was the 2m FMAC and UKAC VHF contests, for which I planned to be on Shining Tor G/SP-004. With time to spare during the day ahead, I also activated my usual two local summits as well.
Thursday 3rd June 2021 - Gun G/SP-013 & The Cloud G/SP-015 I'd had good intentions of going out early for some HF SOTA activating and DXing - but ended up just taking the handheld up Gun and making a single contact!
Friday 4th June 2021 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 Just a couple on 2m FM with the handheld.
Saturday 5th June 2021 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 There seemed to be plenty of Sp.E kicking around atm. Did 15m on Cloud this morning and 10m from Gun. 10m QSOs from Gun were FT8, CW, SSB and FM. Heard 59 sigs from VK and ZL on 10m FM - but that turned out to be a gateway in Manchester/Bolton!
A quick call into the Knott Inn at Rushton Spencer for a delicious and refreshing pint of Wainwright Ale on the way home - and then "a bit of a trim"!
Monday 7th June 2021 - Gun G/SP-013 & The Cloud G/SP-015 I was pretty tired after the previous day's day-trip and triple activation in the Dumfries area. As such, it was more handheld-only activations today - Gun on the way to work, and Cloud on the way home.
Tuesday 8th June 2021 - Gun G/SP-013 & The Cloud G/SP-015 Inspired by Guru EA2IF’s recent success, I chose to take my 10m/12m groundplane vertical antenna up Gun G/SP-013 on my way to work this morning. The antenna isn’t truly resonant for either the 10m or 12m band. It’s centre frequency is somewhere in the 11m CB band! However, it is made with thick core SOTAbeams mil. spec. wire and therefore has a wide set of usable frequencies - covering both the 12m and 10m bands! So far so good. Only thing was that both bands were stone dead. Nothing even remotely detectable on 28.074 or 24.900 - the nominal FT8 frequencies. I had my 2m FM HT with me, and I was almost resigned to calling for a contact on that so that I could at least record a SOTA activation before I completed my commute to work. As I tuned across the bands one final time, I heard something strong on 28.720MHz SSB. It was a father and son, both licensed, having a QSO. Dad was at home in the Midlands and chatting to his son who was driving to work. I tail-ended the QSO and had a chat with the father, and related my own licensed father-and-son similarity. So just the one QSO for the activation, but very pleasant to be out on the Moorlands in the warm early morning sunshine.
Wednesday 9th June 2021 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 Nice opening to EA on 6m from G/SP-013 late afternoon today. 13 QSOs, 10 on FT8, 3 on CW. 2 into G and 11 in EA.
Thursday 10th June 2021 - Gun G/SP-013 & The Cloud G/SP-015 2m handheld "lazy" activation before work!
Friday 11th June 2021 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 Handheld activations on Cloud and Gun on the way to work in Leek.
Monday 14th June 2021 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 Back to VHF handheld activating - Cloud on the way to work, and Gun on the way home.
Tuesday 15th June 2021 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 Having looked at the DX Heat map website, I decided at the last minute to do a 6m activation. However, it was pretty disappointing with the best DX being the Isle of Man!
Wednesday 16th June 2021 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 Cloud and Gun before work with a 2m FM handheld.
Thursday 17th June 2021 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 Cloud and Gun before work with a 2m FM handheld.
Friday 18th June 2021 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 Sat on a drizzly G/SP-013 making plenty of 6m QSOs around EU with 5 watts. Mainly FT8 with a bit of CW at the end, before heading home for a beer with M0HGY and G vs GM on the telly.
Saturday 19th June 2021 - Gun G/SP-013 & The Cloud G/SP-015 51 QSOs: 10m CW: 7 10m FT8: 8 10m FT4: 4 10m SSB: 17 12m FT8: 4 12m SSB: 5 2m FM: 6
Monday 21st June 2021 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 Two more 2m FM handheld activations, Cloud on the way to work and Gun on the way home.
Tuesday 22nd June 2021 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 Cloud on the way to work and Gun on th way home again. Gun on 2m FM handheld as usual, but a nice 20m CW activation on Cloud.
Wednesday 23rd June 2021 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 Both local summits activated handheld-style on the way to work.
Thursday 24th June 2021 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 Both local summits activated handheld-style on the way to work.
Friday 25th June 2021 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 Both local summits activated handheld-style on the way to work.
Monday 28th June 2021 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 Both local summits activated handheld-style on the way to work.
Tuesday 29th June 2021 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 Both local summits activated handheld-style on the way to work.
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